SOLAR POWER PLANTS WORLDWIDE

The world has just started harnessing the solar power and already there have been many critics questioning the limitation of this project. But whatever be said, there is no denying that solar power is the future for humankind. The photo voltaic industry is on the rise and slowly more and more such industries are going to be developed across the world.

For several years, these industries were largely concentrated in the European region, but slowly this deployment has been shifting towards the Asian countries –mainly China and Japan as well as to other countries such as Australia, India, Canada, Thailand, South Korea, etc. as well.

Below is a list of the 10 biggest solar farms of the world.

Topaz Solar Farm, California: The mid American Solar – has a capacity of 580 MWs. This solar farm has recently joined among the biggest as its 40 MW extra parts went online a few years back, making it one of the largest power plants in the world (with over 500 MW capacity) in the world. It is located in the Carrizo Plain of San Luis Obispo County. It consists of about 9 million solar panels which stretch across 9.5 square miles. It has the capacity to power about 160000 homes.

Source –
en.wikipedia.org

Sambhar Lake, India: This is by far among the largest solar farms of the world with a capacity to hold about 4000 MW of energy. It is built across 70 kilometers far and wide in Jaipur, Rajasthan. Situated in India, this is supposed to be a monster power plant which took 4 billion dollars to be constructed. However, this project has been stalled as the state government is in dispute with the federal government over the utilization of this piece of land. The state government wants to make a salt manufacturing base here while the federal government wants to continue making this power plant. If the project undergoes smoothly, then this power plant will provide about 8 times more power than the largest power plants of the United States.

Source –
www.theclimategroup.org

Agua Caliente Solar Project, Arizona: This one has a solar capacity of about 290 MW. The project went online in the year 2014. The entire structure spans to about 2400 acres and the capacity of this power plant is enough to supply power to about 230,000 homes, even during the peak loads. This farm was built with a loan guarantee from the United States Department of Energy. When it went online last year, it claimed to be the largest solar power plants in the world. The entire structure has been availed for a loan of about 967 million dollars.

Source – www.businesswire.com

Ivanpah, California: It has already been working for a year. It spans across five square miles near the Nevada border in the Mojave Desert, and houses a capacity of 392 MWs. There are 300,000 mirrors in the plant and it is used to direct the sun’s light towards the boilers towers. It has enough energy to power 140,000 homes. However, recently this power plant has been criticized for disrupting the animal’s habitat and frying the birds which fly even remotely close to these extremely hot towers.

Source – trends.directindustry.com

Nzema Solar Park, Ghana: this one is currently under construction and once it is completed, it will have about 630,000 photo voltaic panels – so you can only imagine the amount of energy it will provide. Once so many panels are active it will be the sixth largest active solar power plant in the world. It will however have a capacity of about 155 MWs. It will tap into the power transmission system which is running parallel to it, along Ghana to Ivory Coast, Benin, Toto and Nigeria.

Source – phosphateprice.com

Setouchi, Japan: This huge power plant is situated to be in Okayama in Japan. The construction for this power plant has just begun in November 2014. The cost for the entire project is around 1.1 billion dollars. Japan has lent 867 million dollars to the consortium for this project. In fact, this is the largest amount raised by Japan for a clean energy project. This facility will be built on a former salt field and it will sell its power to the Chukogu Electric Power Company for the next 20 years, as per an agreement.

Source – www.sunrockinvestments.com

Amanecer Solar CAP Plant, Chile: This one merely has a capacity of about 100 MWs, but still comes under the listing of top ten power plants in the world. It is located right in the middle of the Atacama Desert. Its 100 MW capacity makes it the largest solar power plant in the Latin American region. This is a 250 million USD facility and it contains about 310,000 solar panels. This capacity is enough to power 125,000 homes in Chile. The agreement has been made between CAP group and SunEdison, for this particular project.

Source – www.pvtrademissionchile.com

Redstone Solar Thermal Power Plant, South Africa: This project has been recently developed in January, 2015. The Jasper PV project used to be the country’s largest solar power plant and this one will be placed quite close to its vicinity as well. The project is somewhat different from the other solar power plant projects because it holds 12 hours worth of energy. It will also produce enough energy to power 200,000 homes.

Source – mybroadband.co.za

Solar Star, California: It is a project undertaken by the Solar Star Projects. It is situated in the Kern and Los Angeles Counties. The construction began in the year 2013 and is still undergoing. Upon completion, it is supposed to be a home of about 1.7 million solar panels. It already delivers over 170 MWs of energy to the California grid. It has a 579 MW capacity.

Source – inhabitat.com

Jasper PV Project, South Africa: its capacity is that of 96 MW. It is a Jasper project situated near Kimberley, the capital of the Northern State Province. It has the capacity to provide power to about 80,000 homes in the Northern State Province. The construction of this power plant is already completed in last October and it is ready to be unveiled.